The present invention relates to a connector for a memory card, such as a Subscriber ID Entity Module (SIM) card and the like.
Referring to FIGS. 6 through 10, there is shown a construction for this type of memory card connector of the prior art.
Referring to FIGS. 6 through 10(A) and 10(B), a memory card connector 1 is constructed from a housing 2 and a holder cover 3. Housing 2 is provided on its upper surface with a space 2a, which is for receiving a SIM card 4 as the memory card. Housing 2 is also provided with a perimeter wall 2b which surrounds space 2a.
In addition, housing 2 is provided with a plurality of connection terminals 5 (in the drawing, there are three). The area near one end of each of connection terminals 5 protrudes at the upper surface of housing 2. Each of the other ends protrudes in a row at the opposing edges of housing 2 (in the drawing, the left and right edges).
Furthermore, referring to FIG. 6, housing 2 is provided with a rotation shaft 2c, which protrudes outward (in the upward and downward direction of FIG. 6) from both ends of the right edge in FIG. 6.
Holder cover 3 is provided with a hinge part 3a, which latches onto rotation shaft 2c, which is provided on the housing. Holder cover 3 has a construction wherein by hinge part 3a latching onto rotation shaft 2c, holder cover 3 can rotate with respect to housing 2.
Furthermore, holder cover 3 is provided with memory card latching tabs 3b and locking tabs 3c, which extend downward from both side edges (the upper and lower edges in the figure) and are further extended inward.
Hinge part 3a is constructed from a slot 3d, which extends towards both side edges of holder cover 3. Hinge part 3a is constructed so that rotation shaft 2c is capable of sliding within slot 3d.
According to this, holder cover 3 is brought from the open position shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7(A) to the closed position shown in FIG. 9 by rotating around rotation shaft 2c as shown in FIG. 8. Furthermore, referring to FIG. 9, while rotation shaft 2c slides within slot 3d, holder cover 3 is moved towards the right with respect to housing 2, and it is brought to the locked position shown in FIGS. 10(A) and (B).
Referring to FIGS. 10(A), 10(B), in this locked position, locking tab 3c, which is provided on holder cover 3, latches onto a latching part 2d, which is provided on the side edges of housing 2. As a result, holder cover 3 is locked onto housing 2.
According to memory card connector 1 with this construction, first, as shown in FIG. 6, holder cover 3 is in an open position in which holder cover 3 is open approximately 180 degrees with respect to housing 2. Memory card 4 is set on the inside of memory card latching tabs 3b of holder cover 3 (refer to FIG. 7(A)).
Next, referring to FIG. 8, as indicated by letters A, B, C, D, E, by rotating holder cover 3 in sequence with respect to housing 2, holder cover 3 is brought to a closed position as shown in FIG. 9.
Next, referring to FIG. 9, holder cover 3 slides with respect to housing 2 in the direction indicated by arrow X. By the latching of locking tab 3c of holder cover 3 onto latching part 2d of housing 2, holder cover 3 is locked to housing 2.
At this time, the contact part of memory card 4, which has been set inside holder cover 3, contacts one end of the corresponding connection terminal 5, which is provided on housing 2. In addition, the contact part of memory card 4 is pressed against one end of connection terminal 5 by holder cover 3.
In this manner, memory card 4, which is housed inside memory card connector 1, which is installed in various devices, such as telephones, telecommunication devices and the like, can be connected with these various devices.
With memory card connector 1 having this construction, holder cover 3 is supported in a manner which allows for rotation around rotation shaft 2c, which is sideways with respect to the insertion direction of connector 1. Therefore, because holder cover 3 is provided with locking tabs 3c on both side edges, the entire holder cover 3 becomes large, and the weight increases.
Furthermore, when receiving memory card 4, after bringing holder cover 3 to the closed position by rotating around rotation shaft 2c, holder cover 3 is locked to housing 2 by sliding holder cover 3 in the horizontal direction and bringing it to the lock position. As a result, for the anchoring of memory card 4, two motions of pivoting and sliding of holder cover 3 are necessary. As a result, the operational quality was not very good.
Furthermore, with holder cover 3, only its hinge part 3a is latched to rotation shaft 2c on both side edges. While holder cover 3 is being rotated from the open position to the closed position, rotation shaft 2c can become shifted within slot 3d on one side of holder cover 3. As a result, referring to FIG. 12, holder cover 3 can become slanted, and holder cover 3 is no longer capable of moving to the closed position.